Mzulft! Oh how we hate thee!

I just listened to episode 25, and I have to say, Evarwyn I feel your pain! Just last night, my level 10 mage wound up in Mzulft. He was in way over his head! I went from feeling like an overpowered face melting destruction mage, to getting gang raped by dwemer bots, falmer and chaurus.

I guess if you go straight to the mage's college with a low level character, you can wind up in some mid level dungeons before you're ready.

I haven't gone through the College of Winterhold quests yet (yes, ladies and gentlemen: 212 hours of play and there are STILL THINGS IN THIS GAME I'VE NEVER DONE!) so I have never been down in Mzulft. But after going through all the other main questline dungeons to get to Blackreach, I must agree that the Dwemer ruins are by far the hardest, scariest areas of the game. I mean, poop-one's-pants scary. (The first time a spider-bot ejected out the wall like a shotgun shell without warning and hit me right in the side of the head, I'm sure my shrieking cuss words could be heard three towns away.)

And Chaurus? F$#&@% CHAURUS. SERIOUSLY.

So I went back after my mage got up to level 20. It was much easier. Especially since I have leveled Alteration up to 75 and got the Paralyze spell. Paralyze may be the most powerfull spell in the game! It makes quick work of Falmer and even Chaurus.

On my return trip to Mzulft, the only thing that gave me trouble was a Dwemer Sphere Guardian. I had to kite it around a bit to take it down.

One thing about the Skyrim leveling mechanic that I find interesting is that as soon as you enter a dungeon or any other area with enemies, their levels are locked. So, if you go someplace as a level 15 character, the dungeon will be locked at level 15 (unless the dungeon has a higher difficulty like 20-30, then it will be locked at the closest to your level aka 20). I once entered an area that I knew I was going to have trouble with just to lock the level so I can come back in 5 to 10 levels and it will be much easier. I don't do that anymore, but its good to keep in mind if you're having trouble somewhere.